Vending-machine



G. W. MILLER.

VENDING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED OCT. 24, 1918.

1,336,478. Fatemi-ed A911133, mm.

U7 ixzjw'fg'l J5 v UNTTED sTATEs PATENT oEEroE.

GEORGE W. MILLER, OF FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA.

VENDINGr-IJIACI-IINE.

Application filed Gctouer 24, 1918.

To all whom if may concern Be it known that I, GEORGE W. MILLER, a citizen of the United States, residing at San Francisco, in the county of San Francisco and State of California, have invented a new and useful Vending-Machine, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to a machine for vending articles such as gum, candy and the like and an important object of the invention is to provide a vending machine which can be placed on the top of a glass showcase and used instead of the glass jars at present employed by tobacconists and others for this purpose.

Another object of the invention is to so construct the delivery mechanism that when it is operated no jar or strain will be brought upon the surface supporting the vending machine. Thus the machine can be placed on a fragile showcase top such as glass and can be operated without any danger of breaking or cracking the glass.

Another object is to simplify the delivery mechanism as far as possible.

Another object is t0 so construct the delivery mechanism that the coin functions in conjunction therewith to cause delivery of the articles.

Other objects and advantages will appear in the subjoined detailed description.

The accompanying drawings illustrate one embodiment of the invention:

Figure 1 is a front elevation of a vending machine constructed in accordance with the provisions of this invention.

nFig 2 is a plan view, partly in section, or Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is an inverted plan view of Fig. 1.

Fig. 4 is a vertical section on line indicated by v4-m4, Figs. 2 and 3.

Fig. 5 is an enlarged fragmental sectional elevation on line indicated by .e5-m5, Fig. B.

A suitable cabinet 1 is provided and said cabinet in the instance shown comprises a base 2 which may be made of metal, if desired, and a magazine 3 which is preferably composed principally of glass., there being a metal frame 4 of any suitable construction and glass front, sides and top U5, 6 and 6 respectively held in place by the frame.

Specification of Letters Patent.

atented Apr. 13, 1920.

serial No. 259,541.

The back 7 of the magazine may be made of metal and in said back are formed a plurality of vertical coin chutes 8. The back 7 forms a door and is hinged at 9 to the base 2. The interior of the magazine 3 is divided into article holding chutes by vertically extending rods 10 at the front and near the middle of the cabinet. These rods 10 form partitions in the magazine and the partitions may be otherwise constructed if desired. The rods are fastened at their upper ends to the frame 4 and are fastened at their lower ends to the bottom 11 of the magazine. The bottom 12 of the base 2 forms a door hinged at 13 to the rear wall 14 of the base.

Vhen a coin is dropped down any one Qf the chutes 8 the lower edge of the coin enters one of a number of slots 15 formed along the rear edge of a reciprocative member in the form of a plate 16 slidably mounted at its ends on guides 17 in the form of rods which are fastened in any suitable way at their front ends to the front wall 18 of the base. Preferably the front walls 19 of the slots extend aslant upwardly and forwardly and the rear walls 2O also extend aslant upwardly and forwardly though to a less degree than the front walls 19. Thus the slots 15 expand upwardly as clearly shown in Fig. 5 of the drawings. rlhe coin is releasably held in whatever slot it may engage, with its upper portion protruding above the slot, by one of a number of abutments 21, there being a slot 15 registering with each one of the coin chutes and there being an abutment 21 registering with each one of the slots 15. These abutments are fast on a shaft 22 which is journaled at its ends in bearings 23 mounted on the lower face of the reciprocating member 16.

Suitable means are provided for reciprocating the member 16 and in the instance shown in the drawings suchmeans are constructed as follows: Pivoted to the plate 16 near the ends thereof at 24 are links 25 which are also pivoted at 26- to levers 27 that in turn are pivoted close together at 28 to a bracket 29 mounted on the inner face ofthe rear wall 14 of the base. T he levers 27 project forwardly through a horizontal slot in the front wall 18 of the base and the projecting outer ends of said levers are formed into suitable handles 31, one to be engaged by the thumb and the other to be engaged by the first finger of the operators hand. Thus when the levers 27 are moved toward one another they pull on the links 25 vhich in turn pull on the plate 16 so as to move the plate forward on the guides 17. To retract `the levers 27 and to normally hold Jthem spread apart at their forward ends, a coil spring 32 is provided, said spring surrounding a curved rod 33 which is fastened at one end to one of the levers 27 and has its other end shiftable through a guide in the form of a lug 34 projecting from the under side of the other lever, one end of the spring resting against said lug. 'Thus the expansive force of the spring 32 normally holds the levers spread apart as in Fig. 3 and the tension of the spring must be overcome by the pressure produced by the operator in moving-the levers toward one another. When the levers 27 are retracted by the spring 32 such retraction affects the plate 16 through the links so as to retract the plate from its forward position to its rearward position as in Fig. 3. It is now clear that when the levers are operated to move the plate 16 forwardV any coin that maybe in one of the slots 15 will be caused to move forward. The up'- per portion of the coin when. in the slot 15 projects through an opening 35V extending through the rear portion of the bottom 11 of the magazine. Thus it is clear that packages 36 of gum, candy or other articles superposed in piles separated by the partitions 10 will be supported by the 'bottom 11 and that the rear ends of said j )ackages will extend over the opening 35. The packages aie as long as the inside measurement from front to rear of the magazine so that the rear ends of the packages will rest against or close tot-he upper portionof the coin in the slot 15. The front walls of the coin chutes 8 are preferably cut away at their' lower ends to form notches 37 so that when the coin drops into position in any one of the slots 15 the upper portion of the coin edge will be free from interference by the rear wall 7 of the magazine.

The shaft 22 is normally held turned in suoli position as to hold the abutments 21 in the coin-holding position as in Fig. 5 by any suitable means and in the instance shown such means are constructed as follows: The shaft 22 is proif'ided with an arm 38 and extending loosely through a hole 38 in said arm is a pin 39 havinga head'40 which is fastened by a screw 41 to the under side of the plate 16, there being a spring 42 surrounding the pin 39 between the lhead 40 and the arm 38 so that the expansive force of the springwill tend to hold, the arm 38 rearward to hold the abutments 21 upward against the lower rear edge 43 thus forming a stop to limit the movement caused by the spring 42.

Means are provided to turn the shaft 22 so as to move the abutments 21 away from the slots 15 in order that any coins contained in said slots may be released, and such means are automatic and come into commission to move the'abutments 21 out of coinholding position when the plate 16 is shifted rearward by the force of the spring The means to turn the shaft against the retractive force of the 'spring 42 may be constructed as follows: F ixed'to the shaft 22 is an arm 44 and pivoted at 45 to said arm is a finger 46 having a shoulder 47 adapted to engage the front face o f the arm 44, said face forming a stop 48. The finger 46 is held with the shoulder 47 against the stop 48 by a spring 4 9 coiled around the pivot and having one end fastened to the lower end of the finger 46 and having the other end resting against the shaft 22. Thus to move the lower end of the finger 46 rearward such movement must be made against the tension of the spring 49. The spring 49 functions to hold the linger 46 in such position that the lower end of the finger will be engaged by an abutment 50 as the plate 16 is moved back and 'forth on its guides. The abutment 50 may be in the form of a pin projecting from the inner face of the adjacent side wall ofthe base. In the forward movement of the plate 16 the finger' 46 engages the abutment and is tripped therebyT against the pressure of the spring 49 and since the finger moves no movement is transmitted by it to the arm 44. lVhen the plate 16 moves rearward the finger 46 is engaged by the abutment 50 and since the shoulder' 47 prevents forward movement of the lower end of the finger relative to the arm 44, said arm. will be actuated forward thus turning the shaft 22 counter-clockwise in Fig. 5 so as to move the abutments 21 downward away from the slots 15-to cause any coins thatmay be in the slots 15v to discharge therefrom and fall onto the bottom `12 of the base.

The front of the magazine frame 4 just beneath the glass front 3 is pro vided with an opening in the form Aof a slot 51 extending from side to side ofthe cabinet and normally closed by doors 52 hinged at to the frame 4. T he outer faces of the doors 52 when the doors are closed are flush with .the outer face of the frame 4 or may be a trifle'inset in the frame so'that the doors cannot be opened from the outside of the" cabinet. Coil springs 5,4 function vto yieldinglyholdl the doors 52 in closed position. VThere is a .door `alined 'with the lover end of each of the article chutes 55 Awhich are formed by the rods vor partitions The, slot and deors 1 ,asa-rre 3 52 are ust sufficiently high to admit of one package at a time passing through that portion of the slot controlled by any particular door. SomeV of the'doors and a portion of the slot l may be of greater height than the remainder thereof as clearly shown in Fig. 1 and the packages 3G in the chutes will correspond in thickness with the size of the opening provided by the open doors in alinement with the chutes respectively. Also the coin chutes 8 will be made of appropriate cross sectional size for the coin of the particular predetermined denomination desired for effecting discharge of the packages or articles 36. The articles 36 are shown beveled downwardly and forwardly at their forward ends as at 56 so that when they are pushed forward they will the more easily operate the doors 52. Such beveling is not absolutely necessary but is of advantage.

The back 7 and bottom 12 will be provided with locks, not necessary to show and describe herein since such features are well known in the art to which this invention relates.

Assuming that packages 36 have been placed in the magazine 3, as in Fig. 4, the operation of the machine is as follows: A person desiring to purchase one of the packages 36 will drop the appropriate coin in one of the coin chutes 8. If he desires a larger package he will drop a coin of a larger denomination in one of the two chutes at the right-hand side of the machine in Fig. 1 and if he desires a smaller package he will drop a coin of a smaller denomination in any one of the remaining chutes. rThe coin, indicated at 57, will drop into the appropriate slot 1.5 to position clearly shown in Fig. 4. The operator will then grasp the handles 31 and force them toward one another so as to move the plate 16 forward thus moving the coin forward. `Since the upper portion of the coin engages the adjacent lowermost package 36, it is clear that said package is pushed forward opening the door 52 at the front end of said package and projecting the package out of the magazine, as clearly shown in Fig. 5, so that the package can be readily grasped by the operator and removed. After the package has been thus projected forward or removed, the operator will release the handles 31 and the spring 32 will then cause the plate 16 to move rearward. Such rearward movement causes the finger 46 to be engaged by the abutment 50 so as to spring the arm 44 forward as hereinbefore explained to move the abutment 21, supporting the coin 57, downward so as to release said coin and the coin then drops to the bottom of the base 2. As soon as the finger 46 has passed rearward of the abutment 50 the spring 42 causes retraction of the abutments 21 to the coin holding position ready for supporting other coins that may be subsequently dropped in the chutes.

From the foregoing it is clear that the coin itself forms a connecting link between the shiftable member 16 and the package 36 and operates in conjunction with the cjecting mechanism to cause projection of said package from the cabinet when the plate is shifted forwardly.

It is understood that the invention in its broader aspects is not limited to the exact construction shown in the drawings and described above but that the invention also includes such changes and modifications as may lie within the spirit and scope of the appended claims.

1 claim:

1. A vending machine comprising a cabinet adapted to hold superposed packages and having an opening in front of the lowermost package, a door to close said opening, means to yieldingly hold the door closed, a movably mounted member adapted to hold a coin in position to engage the rear end of the lowermost package, means to move said member toward the door, a shaft mounted in the cabinet, an abutment on the shaft to support the coin, means operative to retract the coin-holding means, and means operative by the retractive movement to turn the shaft.

2. A vending machine comprising a maga- Zine adapted to hold superposed packages and having an opening in front of the lower-most package and having an opening in its bottom, a door to close said first named opening, means to yieldingly hold the door closed, a shiftably mounted member having a slot, a coin chute registering with the slot. a shaft mounted on the slotted member, an abutment projecting from the shaft beneath the slot, means to yieldingly hold the shaft turned in position to hold the abutment toward the slot to support a coin in the slot with the upper portion of the coin projecting above the opening in the bottom of the magazine, said coin being adapted to engage the rear end of the lowermost package, means to yieldingly hold the slotted member against forward movement, means operative at will to shift the slotted member forward, an arm on the shaft, a finger' pivoted to the arm and having a shoulder to engage the arm when the lower end of the finger is swung toward the front of the machine relative to the arm, and a stationarily mounted abutment adapted to be engaged by the lower end of the finger when the slotted member moves forward and rearward.

3. A vending machine comprising a cabinet adapted to hold superposed packages and having an opening in front of the lowermost package, a door to close said opening, movement of the levers toward one another 10 means vto yeldingly 'hold the door closed, causing forward movement of the coinshiftably mounted means to hold a coin in holding means.

position to engage the rear end of the loWer- Signed at San Francisco, Cal.,this 15 day most package, links pivoted to the conof October, 1918. I

holding means, levers pivotally mounted at GEORGE W. MILLER. their rear ends and pivoted to the vlinks relVitnesses:

spectvely, and means to yieldingly hold the CHAS. W'. LETSINGER,

levers with their forward ends spread apart, DAVID B. CLIFFORD. 

